Ensilage-cutter.



W'. S. GOUINLOCK.-I ENslLAGE CUTTER. APPLICATION 'FIL ED .HAY I. 1913.

1,218,079. v Pauial'ltedl Mar. 6, 1917. 2 snzzvs-snii l. I

fur mulls rusas m. nwmuma. wnsnmc mu. n. n.

w. s. GoulNLocK. ENSILAGE CUTTER. APPLICATION EILED MAY 7. 1913.

1,21 8,079. v Patented Mai. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W Me/m WILLIAM s. eouiivnooilz, or vfAnsAw, new Yoan.

' ENSILAGE-CUTTER; f"

Specification of Letters Patent.

vApplication filed May 7, 1913. Serial No. 766,230.

To all 'whom t 'may concern. ,y

Ie it known that I, WILLIAM S. Gouin- Locn, a citizen of the Unitedl States, and a resident of lVarsaw, in the county of VVyo-4 ming and State' of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in .Ensilage-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved ensilage cutter, and more particularlyl to the knife wheel.

In an ensilage cutter, there is usually provided a knife4 wheel having' a plurality of cutting bladesl which coperate with a shear plate to cut fodder coming between zthem into small pieces, and then the pieces so cut up are fed along and depositedin a silo. In such machines, as far as I am aware, the attachment of the knives with respect to the shear plate and with respect to each other, depended almost entirely on the machining of the seat for the knife blades.` This required a good deal of care and it was almost impossible to obtain exactly the same attachment for each knife blade, so that the distance of the cutting edges of the'different knife blades varied with respecttothe cutting edge of the shear plate. This caused an uneven and noisy running of the ensilage cutter.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a knife wheel in which the knife blades are provided with means to enable an individual adjustment of each knife blade, so as to va ry the distance of its cutting edge with respect to the shear plate and with respect to the other knifeblades and the body of the wheel.

To accomplish this object, each knife blade is provided with a wedge lwhich may be adjustable to vary the distance of the blade from the body of the wheel and from the shear plate. These wedges are individually adjustable and when once located in position may be locked or secured independent of the movement or removal of the knife blades themselves, so thatthe knife blades can be detached for the purpose of sharpening the same Without Idisturbing the individual adjustment therefor. f

By this means, it willbe seen that a great deal of machine work can be saved and besides giving a more accurate adjustment than has been possible heretofore.

In order that the pieces of cut up fodderv may be fed along, the rotation `of themknife leaving passage ofA the cut up material. fvention, I have formed the body being formed integral with Ywheel is utilized to carry out this purpose. .That is to say, the knife wheel, in addition to being a cutting wheel is a blower or fan, j and for this purpose is provided on its rear side with fan blades located somewhat in .advance of the cutting openings in the knife wheel through which the fodder, when cut,

passes. It has been the custom in prior machines, to build vup the body of the knife wheel from a spoked, spider wheel by plugging in between the spokes with plates which are bolted or riveted to the spider Wheel, just enough opening to permit the In my inportion of the knife wheel of one solid; integral casting, leaving' solely cutting openings therethrough, all portions ofthe body portion each other. By this means, I have been able to obtain a much lighter and stronger wheel, While the wheel is closed at all points except where it is desired to draw the cut up pieces of fodder through, by suction due to thefan blades secured to the wheel.

Other features and advantages together with the construction and combination of parts will be more fully set forth hereinafter and particularly pointed-out in the claims.

Reference maybe had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference charknife wheel, looking at it from the side on which the knife blades are located.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section showing in detail, the connection of one of the blades of the knife wheel and its relation to the shear plate. A

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the knife wheel, looking at it from the opposite side ,l to. that shown in Fig. vl.

Fig. il is a detail perspective view showing the means for reinforcing one of the fan blades and taking up the thrust thereon. Fig. [5 is av detail sectional view showing the cooperation of the reinforcing abutment with the back leg of one of the fan blades.

Referring more particularly to the separate part-s of this invention as embodied in the form shown in the drawings, l, indicates the knife wheel which is preferably formed of one single, solid casting having cutting openings 2 provided therein. It will be noted that the cutting openings 2 are not Patented Mar; e, ier?.

at an angle other radially arranged, but are extended tangentially to a small circle which may be taken as the outer circumference of the hub 3 of the wheel. The wheel itself may be reinforced by yhaving thickened portions 4,

somewhat in the manner of spokes, and conveniently designated as ribs, extending along one edge of each of the openings 2, but comprising an integral part of the body portion l of the wheel.

Secured so as to project across each of the openings 2, there is provided a knife or cutting blade 5 which has its cutting edge extending parallel to one of the long sides of the opening 2 in each case, so that this cutting edge will also have a tangential direction, and thus when the knife is rotated, will have a shear or draw cut when cooper ating with a shear plate 6 to cut the fodder coming therebetween.

It is essential in this type of' device in order that only the cutting edge of the knife blade shall offer .itself directly to the shear plate 6, that the knife blade in each instance be arranged at an angle to the plane of the wheel l. rlhis also enables the means for attaching each knife blade to the wheel to clear the shear plate 6.

In this invention nieety of machining is obviated by providing an individual adjustment for each knife blade, so that its position with respect to the knife wheel and with respect to the shear plate G can be individually adjusted. To accomplish this, there is interposed between each knife blade and the Wheel l, a wedge 7 which is located with one edge extending parallel and adjacent to one edge of the opening 2 and with the other edge located some distance to the rear thereof. rlhe edge of the wedge 7 which extends adjacent one edge of the opening 2, is somewhat thicker than the rear edge, so that the top and bottom faces slope gradually toward each other from the front edge tothe rear edge. rlhis cna-bles the raising of the front portion of each blade higher than the rear portion, so that the cutting edge of the blade is raised above the rest of the blade. r he wedge 7 extends the full width of the opening` 2, so that it is effective for all portions of the blade 5.V

To secure the blade 5 and wedge 7 to the knife wheel l, there is provided a plurality of bolts 8 which extend through openings 9 in the blade 5, openings i0 in the wedge 7, and openings il in the body portion of the wheel l.. .it will be noted that the openings ll are inclined to the plane of the wheel l i than D, so that the'bolts extend in line with the direction of stress. To enable the proper seating of ends 1Q for the bolts 8, inclined bearing projections 13 may be provided on the backside of the body portion l of the wheel.

'ft will be noted that the openings 9 and 10 in the knife blade 5 and thel wedge 7 respectively are elongated as will be seen by reference to Fig. l, so that the knife blate as well as the wedge can be adjusted back and forth to vary the position of the knife blade and the position of the wedge. That is to say, the distance of the cutting edge of the knife blade from the shear plate 6 can be varied by varying the position of the wedge 7 and by varying the position of the blade 5 itself.

ft will further be noted that the two end bolts indicated specifically in VFig. l by the numeral lll are located somewhat forward of the other bolts, so as to grip the ends of the blade more firmly and hold it against any possible distortion.

ln order that the wedge 7 in each instance may be held in any position of adjustn'xent while admitting of the detachment of the biade 5 for sharpening, the wedge 7 is provided with a pair of extensions or lugs l5 which are likewise provided with elongated slots or openings l@ through which extend bolts 17 passing also through openings i9 in the body 1 of the wheel. iVhen the wedge 7 is once adjusted to any desired position, it may be held in this position of adjustment, by the bolts 17 without interfering with the removal of the bolts S and a disengagement of the blade 5 from the wheel. The lugs l5 may be fiat as indicated without any bevel as they are merely required to hold the wedge in position, but the slots 16 will allow for any movement of the wedge 7 when the bolts 17 are loosened, so as to adjust the position of the wedge relative to the knife wheel.

The knife blades 5 coperate with the shear plate 6 to cut the fodder passing between them into pieces of approximately one inch in length, which pieces must pass through the opening 2 to the opposite side of the fan wheel l.

ln order to bring this about and to feed the cut pieces of fodder farther along to be carried into the silo, there is provided on the backside of the knife wheel l, a series of fan blades 19 preferably one for each of the knife blades 5 and for each of the openings 2. These fan blades are located preferably in advance of the openings 2, so that they will create a suction tending to draw the out up pieces of fodder through the openings 2. The fan blades 'i9 are shown in the form of angle plates with a securing flange 20 and a fanning liange 2l. rlhe securing flange 20 is provided with suitable openings Q2 through which extend detachable bolts 23 to secure the fan blades in position on the wheel l. Corresponding openings may be provided in the wheel i for the bolts 23.

in order tov take up any strain on the fannmg iiange 21, each iiange is provided blades secured to said with a reinforcing strut or, rib 24 which tapers down to a toe 25 which may engage between the fo-rks of an abutment 26 formed integral with the knife wheel l. It will be seen that the abutment 26 forms a socket into which the strut 24 can fit and hold the fan blade 19 against any excessive strain which the bolts 23 might not be able to carry.

It will thus be seen that the knife blades 5 can be individually adjusted without requiring any great accuracy in the machine work and that when the adjustment is finished, all of the knife blades can be made to have exactly the same relation with respect to each other and to the shear plate 6, so that the cutting wheel will have an even, uniform motion and action.

Of course, if desired, the wedges do not have to be adjusted with the edges always parallel to the direction of the cutting slots 2, but may be placed askew if necessary for a desired adjustment as sufficient play in the bolt slots is provided for this purnose. 1 It will be further seen, by using an integral wheel with all of the space between the cutting slots or openings filled in by solid integral portions of the wheel itself, that a much lighter structure can be used while obtaining the same or greater strength.

It will be further seen that by positioning the fans more or less radially just in advance of the cutting' opening, that the -material can be drawn as cut off by the knife blades through the cutting openings in the knife wheel and forced on ahead to be disposed of in the silo.

While I have shown one embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the specific details thereof, but desire to be protected in various changes, alterations and modifications which may come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. The combination of an integral disk having longitudinal slots arranged tangential to a small circle, said disk being provided with longitudinal ribs each disposed parallel to one of said slots and located in close proximity to the same, the disk being entirely closed between the slots by integral solid portions of the disk itself, and knife disk and each extending partially over one of said slots.

2. The combination with an integral wheel having slots therein arranged tangential to a small circle, knife blades extending in the same general direction as the slots and projecting across said slots, said wheel being entirely closed between said slots by integral solid portions of the wheel, an abutment located between the outer end of each slot and the adjacent edge of the wheel said abutment being integral with the wheel and extending the full width of the slot in order to reinforce the wheel, and a fan blade for each slot, said fan blade being secured to said wheel and provided with a portion engaging the adjacent abutment.

3. The combination with a knife wheel, of a plurality of knife blades for said wheel, a wedge for each of said blades for var ing the relative position of the cutting edges of said blades with respect to said wheel, and means for maintaining the adjusted positions of said wedge independent of the attachment of said blades so that said blades can be moved while said wedges remain fixed.

4. The combination with a knife wheel, of a plurality of knife blades for said wheel, a wedge individual to each of said blades to enable the individual adjustment of said blades to vary the position of the cutting edge of said blades with respect to said knife wheel, means for securing said blades and said wedges to said knife wheel, and means independent of said first mentioned means for securing said wedges individually to said knife wheel so as to admit of the movement of said blades while said wedges remain fixed.

5. The combination with a knife wheel, of a plurality of blades for said knife wheel, a wedge interposed between each of said blades and said knife wheel, means for securing said blades and said wedges to said knife wheel, each of said wedges having one or more lugs projecting therefrom beyond the range of said blades, and bolts extending through said lugs and secured to said knife wheel for securing said wedges to said knife wheel independent of the means for securing said knife blades to said knife wheel.

6. The combination with a knife wheel, of knife blades on said knife wheel for drawin the cut material away from said knife blades, fan blades on said knife wheel, and means for securing said fan blades to'said knife wheel, each of said fan blades comprising an angle plate with a securing flange and a fanning flange, and a reinforcing rib extending rearwardly said fanning flange to take up the strain on said fanning blade.

7 A. lmife wheel comprising a disk hav-- ing slots thereinarranged tangentially to a small circle having the central point of the disk as a center, said disk being provided with lugs integral with it and disposed adjacent the outer ends of the slots, each lug having a pocket, and fan blades attached to said disk and ydisposed adjacent said slots, each fan blade having a toe portion extending into the pocket of the adjacent lug.

8. The combination with a wheel having slots therein, of fan blades secured to said Wheel -to draw material awayV from said slots, and ineans for securing' said fan blades to said wheel, each of said fan blades coniprising an angle plate having a securing' flange and a farming Harige, and a reinforcing` rib extending rearwardly from the outer edge of said fanning flange by abutting` against said Wheel. Y p

9. The combination with a knife Wheel having a cutting slot therein, 'of a knife blade projecting across said slot to cut material entering said slot, and a Wedge for adjustably displacing said knife blade With respect to said slot, said Wedge bordering said slot on three sides so as to properly snpport the ends and intermediate portions of said knife blade With respect yto said slot.

Signed at VVarsaW, lin the county of Tycniing and State of New York, this 25th day of April, 1913. Y

. TWILLIAM S. GOUINLOCK. Titnesses M. P. SCHNECKENBURGER, B. E. GroWDY.

Copies ofiithis patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gomrnissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

